Expert Addresses Pharmacy’s Uncertainty Amid MFN Drug Pricing Policy

What is seemingly the best avenue for industry-wide financial reform, pharmacies and their advocacy groups continue to call for long-awaited federal pharmacy benefit manager reform (PBM) as 2026 looms. On the government level, the Trump Administration’s new approach to most-favored-nation (MFN) drug pricing, through things like direct-to-consumer (DTC) medication platforms expected to launch next year, is set to further shake up the pharmacy industry.

“Pharmacy is becoming that epicenter—which pharmacy [has] really wanted for so long—where they've said, ‘Hey, look, this is [where] we want the patients to come for information,’” Ron Lanton III, Esq, partner at Lanton Law, told Drug Topics. “[It’s] not just pills, but [they] want to give clinical information and also to help you save money. It's good that pharmacists know that these things are out here; these different policies.”

In part 3 of our interview with Lanton, he focused in on the true but uncertain impact the MFN pricing policy will have on pharmacies, their businesses, and the providers that make them operate.

Prior to the significant expansion of pharmacists’ scope over the years, the government’s drug-pricing intervention through executive orders and DTC websites would have previously stunted pharmacy sustainability. However, as pharmacists find new ways to bill for clinical services through help from state- and federal-level laws, their need to dispense medications for revenue has tapered.

Lanton agrees there is still significant uncertainty surrounding the MFN statute. While the distribution of prescription drugs seems to be at an unprecedented moment in the history of the supply chain, pharmacists and their practices continue to be the authority on medications.

Until MFN policies and new Trump-branded resources are further developed and officially introduced, uncertainty will continue to cloud the actions of this administration toward the pharmacy industry.

READ MORE: Q&A: How Complex US Drug Market Impedes MFN Pricing Policy

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